“Any system described by a power law [...] has several curious effects. The first is that, by definition, most participants are below average.”

“[R]elying on nonfinancial motivations may actually make systems more tolerant of variable participation.”

“This linking together in turn lets us tap our cognitive surplus, the trillion hours a year of free time the educated population of the planet has to spend doing things they care about. In the 20th century, the bulk of that time was spent watching television, but our cognitive surplus is so enormous that diverting even a tiny fraction of time from consumption to participation can create enormous positive effects.”

“Unlike sharing, where the group is mainly an aggregate of participants, cooperating creates group identity.”

“The systemic bias for continuity creates tolerance for the substandard.”

“[C]ollaborative production is simple: no one person can take credit for what gets created, and the project could not come into being without the participation of many.”

“Information sharing produces shared awareness among the participants, and collaborative production relies on shared creation, but collective action creates shared responsibility, by tying the user's identity to the identity of the group.”